Holiday Inn St. Petersburg N- Clearwater by IHG — Hotel in Pinellas Park

100% the worst staff we’ve ever encountered at a hotel.

As IHG members we make an effort to stay at IHG hotels. Yesterday at 7pm when my husband arrived and asked about room rates the girl at the counter seemed rude right off the bat. It felt as though she didn’t believe my husband was an IHG member because after he gave her his information to look up she made him login on his phone to pull up his account. After that my husband informed her of our service dog. She accused him of not actually having a service dog because the dog was not at his side while he was checking in and then asked him to provide documentation for the dog. My husband said he could have me grab it from the car but that this was something we have never encountered at any hotel before or been asked to provide. Then the other lady jumped in an said “a lot of people are confused and think emotional support animals are service animals” at which point my husband felt extremely uncomfortable and felt as though the women working at the desk were insinuating that he did not have a disability or need for a service dog. My husband felt pressured into disclosing his disability so they would stop making such insulting comments. After telling them his disability, he informed the staff that their investigation into his disability and validity of our service dog was against the law. We are happy to let the staff know what the dog is trained for but further than that we should not be forced into disclosing his medical information, and definitely not infront of the other guests that were in line. It truly felt as though they were calling him a liar because he didn’t have a visible disability. The entire experience was so horrendous that we asked them to cancel the following two nights we booked and we only stayed one night and found another hotel close by. During our one night stay we encountered 6 staff, and 4 out of 6 were horrible.

The staff at 10pm was a woman and young guy and I want to mention that they were great. We went to the desk to let them know that maybe the staff need proper training when dealing with people with disabilities and service animals and they were very nice about the entire situation.

Not every disability is visible and it’s insulting to assume we did not know the difference between a service dog and an emotional support animal. As we checked out this morning around 11am the two people working the desk were also incredibly rude and I even watched the young man tell off a guest that was on the phone. His coworker even reprimanded him for his rude response infront of us. We would never recommend this hotel to anyone or even stay at it again. This entire experience made us realize that going out of our way for an IHG hotel may not be worth it for us. Typically with IHG hotels, the staff treat us very well but this one had the absolute worst customer service. Their treatment of hotel guests was honestly disgusting. I hope that a manager reads this and contacts us for further details or at the very least trains employees on the depth of questions they can legally ask guests regarding a...

The stereotype of “staying at the Holiday Inn next to the airport,” may have a certain negative connotation, but in this particular case the reputation was unfortunately accurate.

Let me first ask, why does every budget hotel have “Pardon Our Dust” signs displayed, claiming renovations are happening? Personally, I think these are used as an excuse to hide the fact that the hotel is a mess.

Check in was fine; the lobby is segmented into smaller sections and dimly lit. There is an onsite restaurant/bar connected to the lobby. The hotel also offers a sit-down breakfast, also located in the lobby. There was 1 functional elevator to go upstairs, with 2 stairwells flanking the building. The hotel has a small outdoor pool and hot tub. The dim lighting extended into the interior halls leading to the rooms. The staff members were all friendly and pleasant.

Upon entering my room, I was instantly hit with the smell of wet dog and bleach. The room also had a cool but damp/wet feel to it. The room appeared to be in order but only at surface level, once I unpacked and settled in did I realize how dirty the room actually was. The bathroom had an unclean odor, with small bugs in the corners, and a shower head that was so crusty that the low-flow water could barely flow. I kept my socks on when in the room, which could easily show how dirty the floors were. Since this was just a short business trip, I just rolled with it and stayed.

The beds and pillows were adequate. The water temperature was good, but as I mentioned, had very low water pressure. The towels appeared clean but very worn. The walls are thin and I could easily hear the neighbors and people outside, but overall the noise was kept to a minimum. There is an in-room AC with temperature controls; however, I question whether the controls have any functionality - I tried to adjust the fan and temperature during the stay (to try air the room out), but they seemed to have no effect. The room also contained all the usual creature comforts, such as: TV, microwave, mini fridge, iron, hairdryer, and coffeemaker. Location-wise, this is next to the airport, so convenient for travel but you’ll also hear planes landing - I didn’t hear any planes coming in too late in the evening though. There are fast food restaurants, CVS, and Publix all within a close proximity.

I learned after the fact, that the hotel is pet-friendly. I can only assume that my room smelled the way it did, due to animals being in the room and the room not being properly cleaned - my clothing even smelled of the room/dog after I returned home and unpacked.

I wouldn’t call this area as a “destination” or “touristy”- the area appears to be more of a transient location with people just passing through, short business travel, and/or traveling through to the airport.

Unfortunately, for the reasons mentioned, this stay was unenjoyable. I won’t be returning, nor would I recommend this...

The staf help me from the moment I checked in until after I checked out and ended up coming back because I was happier here than the other hotel that I was going to stay at on the second part of my trip. From the morning staff who constantly help me with my room cards as I kept messing them up and they had to help me many times daily to get new ones along with the protecting holder. Then the evening staff help me with laundry and taking care of getting extra bedding and towels when we missed the maid service on the days we weren’t here because we left I do not disturb sign because I had two small dogs. I must’ve spent half my time at the front desk and each time I encountered anybody there I just felt at home as if I known these people my whole life the way they treated me hard to put into words and again every staff member I encountered was exceptional and then of course there was the aviator bar bartender with amazing. The food was amazing. I was shocked that it was that good considering I guess I thought it was gonna be so much different and it was , a small menu but I ate everything on it at least once or twice during my stay the bartender went to the last call by two minutes without realizing it again exceptional staff, exceptional food, exceptional, service, grateful great it may be an older hotel may not be in a glamorous vacation area but it’s in an area that is centrally located to all the places I want to go while my fiancé was working inviting helpful and kind and professional and just old-fashioned customer service. The staff was here and I assure you that I met probably every shift because I kept extending my stay because I prefer to be here then the other place that we had relocated in Tampa and in fact it’s been a week and a half and I’m already back visiting so that I can come and hit some of the spots I wasn’t able to get to on my last trip and I plan to stay the whole weekend and once again, as soon as I checked in, remembered me, they were sweet and so helpful and even gave me treats for my dogs. This is why excellent on everything because this hotel deserves it the staff deserves it, and I do not make a habit of ever doing surveys, however, this was so impressive and again words failed me to try to express how happy I was here just with the staff while everybody was at work and I was alone here with my dogs. I had staff helping me left and right and you don’t get that...